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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Complete, Noisy, Joy

Complete, Noisy, Joy from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.Psalm 981A PsalmO sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.2The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.3He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

4Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break into joyous song and sing praises.5Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.6With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

7Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.8let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy9At the presence of the LORD for he is coming to judge the earth. he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

John 15:9-179As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God.We've taken a step back this Sunday. We've taken a step back to when the Word became flesh and made his home among us. We've taken a step back into Jesus's earthly ministry.

We've spent the last month a half caught up in the celebration of Easter, a season that will carry us another two weeks. For forty days we lived in a Lenten wilderness, surrounded by lament and swimming in grief, all leading us to Holy Week, which began with subverted expectations and ended with a shocking resurrection. Now, in our post-resurrection light, the things Jesus said while he was among us begin to fit together.

So this Sunday, we're taking a step back. We're remembering together the things that Jesus said to us as we gathered in that upper room. We're taking a step back to remember what our Lord said in the moments before God brought us out of the house of bondage with a mighty hand. "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love."

Christ’s command to us is to love one another, because he has loved us, because the Father has loved him. It all gets passed down with the weight of God’s gracious commandments. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

It's a little odd to talk about joy on the night of his arrest. And the disciples had much to fear, and in the days to come would see even more reason to live in fear. Their Lord would be arrested, unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, and executed by the occupying Roman Empire. Yet here is Jesus, their beloved teacher, their Lord, talking about joy as if he has no idea what's going on in the world around them.

And yet he clearly knows what's going on better than anyone else in the room. Because in the days to come the disciples will see things they never imagined possible. We have seen that just beyond the reach of the cross, we have the empty tomb, and right now a few weeks later, we are living in that complete joy.

Few of us, I'd imagine, can clearly recall what complete joy looks like. Thousands of years removed from the events describe in scripture, we live in a scary looking world. The news from all over the world seems violent and bleak. We are taught to always be cautious, or someone may take advantage of us. The internet, which for my money is the greatest tool for communication since the printing press, can spread fears unbelievably fast with a viral post or a forwarded e-mail. Advertisers especially prey on our fears, telling us if we buy this gadget or that service, that the thing we're afraid of won't happen.

Our world is afraid, more afraid than it's been in a long time.

But the church is uniquely positioned, in this fearful world, to proclaim the good news that carries our joy until it is complete. The hymn we sang last week, "Come Sing, O Church, in Joy" shows us that even though the events in scripture may be far removed, the stories are near to our hearts, giving us reason to celebrate the journey now and praise The Lord. We turn to the ancient words of Psalm 98 show us what complete joy can look like: "O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory."

Our joy is in the LORD whose kingdom cannot be contained by all the might of the Roman Empire, or any other nation for that matter. The kingdom of God cannot even be contained by the grave, for the tomb is empty. "The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God." And having seen the LORD's victory, our chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.

We’re pretty good, as a people, at glorifying God. We come to worship, we drop a little money in the plate, we pray before meals, we do the Jesus thing, we even sing songs of praise. Sometimes, however, glorifying God sounds, and feels, more like a chore. Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

Sometimes we forget to enjoy God forever. We forget to ooh and ahh at the work of God’s hands. Sometimes we forget that God has truly done marvelous things. “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break into joyous song and sing praises. Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.” Doesn’t have to be flawless technique, just has to be joyful.

So this Sunday, we’re taking a step back, remembering that although we have much to fear, we have an overriding joy in the powerful love of God. “Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy at the presence of the LORD for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity."

It’s not usually my style to tell folks what to do, I’m more of a “let’s explore this together” kind of leader, but I’m going to stake my Pastoral Authority on this: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, Presbyterian Church of Lowell. We shall put away our fear and live in complete noisy joy, because our God has done marvelous things.

We have joy that looks at grief and death and says, "You are not the end of our story." Our story begins and ends with the love of God, and with the love of Christ, who lays down his life for his friends. We have seen lament, and know that it is a part of how we grapple with God, but the Crucifixion and Resurrection shows us that God’s right hand and mighty arm are even stronger than grief, even stronger than death, and so our laments break forth into joy.

We will sing with exclamation points, even if it means singing a touch off key. We will make a joyful noise, even if it makes us uncomfortable. We will praise and glorify God with everything we’ve got: voices and instruments and paintbrushes and knitting needles and hammers and pie crusts and numbers and coffee mugs. We will glorify God, and we will enjoy God forever, because that is our chief end.

When folks stop us and say ”What makes you so joyful?” We will tell them: We have joy in Jesus's love, joy in shared love with family and friends, we're a community of love, not fear. We can stare into the world's fear and with the confidence that only comes from Jesus, declare that God has done marvelous things. In a fearful world, we can walk with joy because we have known the love of God through Christ our Savior, who died, is risen, and will come again. We are joyful because we abide in love.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

There is no limit on the love we are given. There is no limit on the love we are to show. We show that love by letting love, and the joy to which it leads, define us. We are commanded to love one another, and the love which made us makes us one. I cannot think of a better reason for joy than that. Joy is the fruit that we will bear out into the world, fruit that is blooms from the Love of Christ, who calls us friends. In a fearful world, we can proclaim the gospel through our Joy, because we abide in love, and are kept together by love.

Therefore, we will live in our joy, not our fear. We will make a joyful noise to the LORD. We will glorify God with every fiber of our being. We will sing praises with a new song.